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Tuesday, February 10, 2015

No-Guilt Chocolate Cherries for Valentine's Day from author Cleo Coyle

There is an old joke about decidingwhat to eat on February 14th...

Question:

"Honey, what are you making for Valentine's Day?"

Answer:

"Reservations."

Whether you're making reservations or a seven course meal, I have an insanely easy recipe for your consideration. It has very few calories; is absolutely delicious; and makes a fun, after-dinner sweet to serve with coffee, tea, or liqueurs.

And if you're not celebrating Valentine's Day, even better because these mock chocolate-covered cherries make a fantastic cheer-me-up treat any evening of the year. In fact, I ought to call these "Chocolate Cheeries"—and you're about to see why...

Cleo's Mock Chocolate Cherries (Cheeries?)

I've made traditional chocolate-covered cherries in the past, and even published a recipe for the classic candy. (You can findit in book #8 of our Coffeehouse Mysteries, Holiday Grind.)

This recipe came about during my testing for the Black Forest Brownies in our newest entry, Once Upon a Grind.

Black Forest Brownies from the recipe section ofOnce Upon a Grind: A Coffeehouse Mystery

During the recipe testing, I soaked cherries in various alcohols and liqueurs to see how the results would taste. In the end, I settled on traditional Kirsch (cherry brandy) or white rum for the Black Forest Brownies. And that recipe will work with fresh or frozen cherries as well as maraschino.

During those recipe tests, I was surprised to discover that soaking maraschino cherries in crème de cacao creates a pretty darn delicious mock chocolate covered cherry.

My husband, Marc, was skeptical. He didn't believe they would taste like a chocolate cherry. But he's a believer now...

Ingredients:

1 Jar Maraschino Cherries (with stems)Crème De Cacao

Directions: Open the jar of cherries and drain all the liquid, keeping the cherries intact and inside the jar. Pour the crème de cacao into the jar until the cherries are covered. Seal the jar and store in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The "cheeries" are now ready to cheer you up.

Be sure to label the jar, especially if the grandkids are coming over. Spiked cherries on a hot fudge sundae sounds pretty darn amazing to me, but it's probably not a good idea for a five-year-old.

Finally, if you are not making reservations and plan to cook a delicious meal this weekend, the crime-writing cooks of Mystery Lover' Kitchen have got you covered in our new Valentine's Day Page. You're bound to find something that tempts you into the kitchen—if not this particular weekend, then another, no doubt.

Sue, we love maraschino cherries around here, too. We’ve also discovered that the happier the maraschinos are, the happier we are. Thank you for sharing your love of the bright red cherry in the sweet syrupy sauce!